Photos of the Synagogue and Jewish Cemetery in Horb-Rexingen

A contribution by Marc Schauecker
The following photographs were taken during a visit to Horb-Rexingen in June 2014. To start a slide show, click on one of the pictures.
The following information on the history of Rexingen Jews was taken from hagalil.com:

Rexingen is about 40 kilometers southwest of Stuttgart near Bundesstraße 14 west of Horb. The former synagogue was built in 1838; the Jewish cemetery came into existence in 1760.
Jews who had fled Poland in the aftermath of the Khmelnytsky Uprising settled in Rexingen in 1650. They built a synagogue in 1710 and built a plot of land for a cemetery in 1760. Emancipation in the 19th century enabled Rexingen Jews to built land, cultivate it, trade (also with cattle and horses), or become bakers, butchers, or innkeepers.
In the mid-19th century, about half of Rexingen's population was Jewish. Afterwards, though, the Jewish community shrank; in 1933, there were about 262 Jews in Rexingen. 40 per cent of them were able to emigrate to Palestine where they founded Shavei Zion near Nahariya. 126 Jews from Rexingen were deported; only three survived.
The interior of the synagogue, a 1838 neoclassicist building, was heavily damaged in 1938. Today, the former synagogue is a Prostestant church. Above its entrance is an inscription in German and Hebrew (“This is none other than the House of God, and this is the gate of heaven,” Gen 28,17) and a plaque commemorating the victims of Nazi rule. The interior was completely redesigned. The former synagogue can be found in Freudenstädterstraße 16.

The cemetery, dating back to 1760, is situated on a wooded hillslope in Kirchstraße. There are information boards. Some of the tombstones show crowns; some are very old. In the more recent part of the cemetery is a monument dedicated to the victims of Nazi terror. The key to the cemetery is available in the mayor's office in the town hall.